Vincent Desharnais came within one victory of winning the Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers, but he chose to put himself in danger last summer.
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At 28, the giant 6’7″ defenseman needed a new challenge, which is why he agreed to a two-year, $4 million deal with the Vancouver Canucks. He believes his decision allowed him to become a better defender.
“I think I’m already a better defender than I was six months ago, and for me, that’s kind of why I needed a new environment,” he explained. near the locker room that the Canucks occupied at the Bell Center on Monday.
“I had been in the Edmonton organization for eight years and I was comfortable. When I arrived here, it was uncomfortable. In the first months, there was a lot of unknown. But I think it’s when it’s not easy that you improve and I’ve made big steps both personally and on the ice.”
Left out
And discomfort, we can say that he experienced it, because after playing almost all of the Oilers games last season, he saw a large part of the meetings from the press box, being left out around ten times since the start of the season.
“At first you’re like, ‘How do I go from playing 78 games being consistent to being here and not having a certain role?’ But I believe that nothing happens for nothing and I have learned so much about myself in the last few months.
“When I look back at the situation I was in, I think I’m going to be glad I went through it, because you learn about yourself and the person you are and you get better.”
Through it all, he had to endure rumors that sent him elsewhere, just a few months after his arrival.
“There was 24 hours of anxiety, and then I talked to people I trusted and let it go. I asked my family not to even talk to me about it.”
Trust
Desharnais needed to regain his confidence, and it took him time.
“When I arrived, it seemed like I wanted to change the person I was too much to have that confidence rather than staying myself.”
His coach, Rick Tocchet, believes that he has done a good job since the last meetings. His playing time has also increased.
“In the last three or four weeks, he’s really worked on his game. He’s skating better, and his decision-making is better. We see him moving his feet a lot more, and I think that explains why he plays better.
The main person concerned estimates that he has regained his identity a month ago.
“It wasn’t easy, it was three good months where I questioned myself a lot […] Things went better in the last few weeks, and I felt more like myself, like Vincent Desharnais.
Motivation
The fact that he had a very long season with the Oilers which ended in big disappointment is perhaps not entirely unrelated to the defender’s difficulties.
“It happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to grieve,” he admits. At the start of the season, it was difficult to find not the motivation to play, because I love playing hockey, but the motivation to start from scratch.
“We played 115 games last year with preseason and we lost the last game of the season and then changed teams and started from scratch. It’s another experience that I’ve never had, and it wasn’t easy.”
